Bench Press Training - Week 3, Cycle 4

28 March 2011

Bench press:

Warmup 3 sets
240 lbs. x 5
270 lbs. x 3
300 lbs. x 2

My bench press has definitely stalled. I used to get 4-6 reps with this weight before, so it is in fact going down (the two reps I got in today were not done with the best form either). So I will be switching over to an Ed Coan-inspired bench routine for the next 13 weeks to see if I can kick-start some progress. I will be keeping the bottom-position bench press in the new program.

To be honest, I have lost over 10 lbs. since my benching glory days when I put up 353 lbs. (160 kgs) in December. I have often read that weight loss affects one's pressing, but I didn't know it was this dramatic.

I am also looking forward to starting a new program. The 5/3/1 has done a lot for all my lifts and it is definitely something I'll stick with in the long term, but 18 months is long enough. If I manage to make progress on the Coan bench routine I will go back to 5/3/1 for the bench press for a while.

Other lifts will still be trained using the 5/3/1 template, as they are progressing nicely.

Bottom-position bench press:

195 lbs. x 5
225 lbs. x 3
250 lbs. x 4 reps (this, on the other hand, felt so easy I had to re-check if I'd misloaded the bar)

Some pin presses from sticking point - light weight

Pullups/chinups 7 x 5

DB bench presses - worked up to 105 lbs. x 2

Bent-over row 135x5, 185x5, 235x5, 255x4

Olympic bar bicep curl 4 sets

Olympic bar skullcrushers 3 sets

DB hammer curls 4 sets

Tricep pushdowns 3 sets

Skipped the weighted ab work - will be done tomorrow.